Rosslyn House
Rosslyn House
Credit: William Henry Prior (1812-1882)
Rosslyn (Roslyn) House, which stood between Wedderburn and Lyndhurst Roads, was one of the last of the famous old Hampstead houses to be destroyed.

Mulys, later called Grove House, Shelford Lodge, and Rosslyn House, was occupied by the Fellows family from c. 1723 to c.1777.

It changed to its final name when it became the property of Alexander Wedderburn, first Earl of Rosslyn, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain in 1793.

He added a large oval room which held the library and disguised the shape of the original house. Rosslyn left in 1803 and in 1808 the house, a newly planted orchard, and 21 acres, were occupied by Robert Milligan (d. 1809), a West India merchant. There were also houses for a gardener and a coachman.

It was noted for its magnificent avenue of Spanish chestnuts said to have been planted in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Elizabethan relics have been found in the vicinity.

Rosslyn House was sold in 1816 to the undertenant and remained in parkland until it was demolished between 1896 and 1909.

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